Vicky Hartzler

Vicky Jo Hartzler (née Zellmer; born October 13, 1960) is an American politician and businesswoman who is serving as the Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. She previously served as the U.S. representative for Missouri's 4th congressional district from 2011 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party, she served as the Missouri state representative for the 124th district from 1995 to 2001.

Hartzler's congressional district comprised a large swath of western-central Missouri, anchored in Columbia and stretching to the eastern and southern Kansas City suburbs, including a sliver of Kansas City. The district also included Sedalia, Warrensburg, Moberly, and Lebanon.

Hartzler was a candidate in the 2022 United States Senate election in Missouri, but lost the Republican primary to Eric Schmitt.

Hartzler was raised on a farm near Archie, a rural community south of Kansas City. She graduated from Archie High School and later attended the University of Missouri, where she graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in education, and the University of Central Missouri, where she graduated with an M.S. in education.

Before running for state representative in 1994, Hartzler taught high school home economics for 11 years.

She left the Missouri House of Representatives in 2000 after adopting a baby daughter. In 2004, Hartzler served as state spokeswoman for the Coalition to Protect Marriage, which supported banning same-sex marriage in Missouri. In 2000, Hartzler opposed the Missouri Assembly's ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and led a group of legislators in a rally against the ERA, saying she didn't "want women used to pass a liberal agenda". In 2005, Governor Matt Blunt appointed Hartzler chair of the Missouri Women's Council, where she served for two years.

After almost a decade out of politics, Hartzler entered the Republican primary for Missouri's 4th congressional district, which at the time was held by 17-term Democratic incumbent Ike Skelton. She won a seven-way primary with 40% of the vote.

Hartzler ran on a conservative platform, voicing support for tax cuts and spending cuts. She opposes abortion and same-sex marriage.

Hartzler won the November 2 general election with 50.43% of the vote. She is the first Republican to represent the district since 1955, and only the second since the Great Depression. She was also the second Republican woman elected to Congress from Missouri, after Jo Ann Emerson, with whom she served from 2011 to 2013. She is the first who was not elected as a stand-in for her husband; Emerson was originally elected to serve out the final term of her late husband, Bill Emerson.

During her first term, Hartzler represented a district that stretched as far east as the state capital, Jefferson City, and as far west as exurban areas of Jackson County. Redistricting after the 2010 U.S. Census removed Cole, Lafayette, Ray and Saline counties—including Skelton's home. The district also lost its shares of Jackson and Webster counties. In its place, the district picked up all of Boone, Cooper, Howard, and Randolph counties, part of Audrain County, and the remainder of Cass County. The district now includes Cass County's portion of Kansas City.

At a town hall meeting in Missouri on April 5, 2012, Hartzler expressed doubts about President Barack Obama's birth certificate.

Hartzler opposes abortion. She has sponsored legislation in an effort to block taxpayer dollars from funding clinics that offer abortion services, such as Planned Parenthood, as well as legislation such as the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.

In October 2015, Hartzler was on the Select Investigative Panel on Planned Parenthood.

In September 2013, Hartzler voted for a $39 billion reduction in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, which was separated from legislation to increase farm subsidies for the first time in over three decades.

As a senior member of the House Agriculture Committee, Hartzler served as a conferee to pass the final version of the Farm Bill in 2018. Hartzler did not vote on the measure to pass the Farm Bill due to her father dying in December 2018. President Donald Trump signed the final version of the Farm Bill in December 2018.

Hartzler has supported investment in rural broadband, which falls under the jurisdiction of the House Agriculture Committee. She successfully led provisions Trump signed into law to increase private investment in rural broadband, modifying Rural Utilities Service broadband programs to include loan guarantees in addition to existing direct loans. She also successfully led provisions to increase minimum download speeds from 4 to 25 megabits per second, with minimum upload speed tripling to 3 Mbit/s for companies receiving financing from the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service fund. In 2020, Hartzler introduced legislation to allow certain Rural Utilities Service borrowers to take advantage of low interest rates without heavy fines and penalties in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On June 10, 2021, Hartzler announced her candidacy for the open U.S. Senate seat in Missouri in 2022.

In February 2022, Hartzler's campaign released a 30-second ad criticizing Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer on the University of Pennsylvania women's team. In the ad, Hartzler said, "Women's sports are for women, not men pretending to be women", adding that, as Missouri's senator, she would not "look away while woke liberals destroy women's sports."

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley endorsed Hartzler in February 2022. According to Politico, "His choice generated hard feelings among other contenders for the Senate nomination—in addition to raising eyebrows in Trump World. Of all the candidates in the field, Hartzler has done the least public pandering to win the former president's support." On July 8, 2022, Donald Trump refused to endorse Hartzler, saying, "I don't think she has what it takes to take on the Radical Left Democrats."

Hartzler lost the August 2 Republican primary to Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, receiving 22% of the vote to Schmitt's 46%.

On June 9, 2025, The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) elected Vicky Hartzler as its Chair for 2025–2026. Hartzler was appointed to USCIRF by Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Mike Johnson (R-LA) in 2024. Her term expires in May 2026.

Hartzler lives on a farm near Harrisonville with her family. She is an Evangelical Christian. She co-owns the Hartzler Equipment Company, later renamed Heartland Tractor, and Hartzler Farms Inc. with her husband and other members of the Hartzler family.